Bengal Government Spots land to set up tea hub in Kolkata

Government of Bengal has acknowledged a plot of land in the Kolkata’s port area to set up a committed tea hub. The facility of this tea hub will have a general testing, packaging and blending facility which tends to promote the value addition of tea for the domestic & international markets.

To enable the bigger players to set up their own units, plots will be made accessible inside the tea park, spread over 20 acres. The port will lease out the plot to WBIDC (West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation). Thus, WBIDC will make the initial investment to set up the facilities in the tea park.

Small players, which are not able to set up their own units for packaging and blending can rent this facility. The state government will also develop high-ended labs to test phytosanitary values insisted by imported countries.

In addition, the port area will allow building up customs bonded warehouses in the zone to make sure the tea shipments are not unwrapped multiple times for checking and to retain quality & freshness.

The state official aware of the process says, “If Dubai, which does not produce a single leaf of tea, can do it, Bengal certainly can do as well,” Also he added, “Not only Dubai, Indian states such as Assam and Odisha are attracting investment in integrated tea blending and packaging units. While some of the finest teas are produced in Bengal, there has been a lack of focus on value addition which comes from blending, packaging, tea bags or bottled ready-to-drink tea”.